Worth it? Any gains?

[ShrimpHappens]

The 3.73 overland I test drove was an absolute dog compared to 4.10s of the Rubicon and the 4.10s were barely adequate.

If you're used to old V8's and are trying to keep the engine RPM's below 3,000, yeah, it's a dog, but if you'll give it the throttle the Pentastar craves, the 3.73 gears are plenty snappy.

If tires were still cheap it would be one thing but if you are spending 2/3 to 3/4 the price of gears trying to wring a few more tenths of a second out, just go gears or save your money as the new tires will do very little to change the performance dynamics unless significantly smaller (effectively more gearing)

You know, you've changed my mind; I agree with what you're saying. The 20" diameter tires are so expensive you're within spitting distance of gears, and regearing is a tremendously better bang for the buck to improve perceived peppiness.

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[ShadowsPapa]

F rated?
Those sidewalls must feel like The Flintstones car on the road.
Yeah. Get some lighter tires with some flex in them.

No kidding.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

If you're used to old V8's and are trying to keep the engine RPM's below 3,000, yeah, it's a dog, but if you'll give it the throttle the Pentastar craves, the 3.73 gears are plenty snappy.



You know, you've changed my mind; I agree with what you're saying. The 20" diameter tires are so expensive you're within spitting distance of gears, and regearing is a tremendously better bang for the buck to improve perceived peppiness.

Ya gotta decide - perceived off-the-line pep, or mpg.
A device like a pedal commander or whatever it's called with change the perception of pep off the line. It makes the throttle more responsive.
So are you after mpg, or reaction time drag strip leaving the line performance?
I tow 5,000 pounds worth of car hauler and car around the country from time to time. No lack of towing ability or pep in mine. I can get 13.9 mpg towing that load on the hills of I80 in eastern Iowa. My Silverado did 12 on a good day on the same highway, hauling my cars.

 

[bleda2002]

Barely adequate? LOL - yeah, you are coming from a "I need MORE POWER!!!" and bigger, deeper is always better perspective. There are those of us who feel these are totally fine, not gutless, not dogs, and are plenty adequate.
Depends on what your personal perceptions are.
I hardly consider mine a "dog" and the torque converter and automatic almost negate any such change unless you go way deep, as far as "taking off".
the top gears are overdrive gears - which other trucks, such as Ford, used to lock out while towing.
Look at what you are comparing - a Wrangler, made for off-road to a JT - a truck? Hardly worth comparing. The Wrangler is more aimed at such needs. The JT - not so much. It's a truck, and oh, it isn't bad off-road, either - that's more of the market segment it's aimed at.
There's a reason Wrangler has those offerings and it's apples and oranges trying to compare to a truck for hauling and towing vs. a "SUV" aimed directly and specifically at off-roading.
Deeper gears won't give better mpg. You'll need to wind the engine up more to maintain the same road speed and that dictates fuel used.
If other gears were good for mpg, Jeep would have done it in the Overland. Overland is a MPG vehicle. And frankly, mine tows great with the gears it's got and 32-33" tires.
Deeper gears might see 8th more often, but why? If I stay in 6th or 7th more I have a similar final ratio to 8th in lower ratio axle gears.

The wrangler and gladiator share power trains, both have similar gvwr, and are used for very similar use cases. The wrangler offers those gears because people want to load them up well past gvwr, then tow their 3500lb adventure trailers. If the manufacturer is comfortable offering 4.56 or 4.88s with 33s on one model to help with hauling, then 4.56 or 4.88s with 33s on a truck would definitely help. Not with mpgs, but honestly if you are trying to gain performance then you should be willing to sac some mpgs.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

If the manufacturer is comfortable offering 4.88s with 33s on one model to help with hauling,

My bet - it's not help with hauling............. it's for using taller, fatter tires and lifts like they know will happen with wrangler. It's an off-road vehicle.
0 trouble towing with mine. I'd never consider gears like that for towing 5,000 pounds. I can easily keep the speed limits and still get over 13 mpg.
4.88s aren't for 32-33" tires.
Hell, I tow 5,000 pounds, maybe it's more with the parts tossed in, so for me, 3,000-4,000 would be like nothing at all behind me. That's a small load, hardly a load as far as weight goes. I'm at least 1500 pounds heavier back there and I do fine.
Naw, it's for off-roading, taller tires, lifts. Not needed for towing.

 

[bleda2002]

My bet - it's not help with hauling............. it's for using taller, fatter tires and lifts like they know will happen with wrangler. It's an off-road vehicle.
0 trouble towing with mine. I'd never consider gears like that for towing 5,000 pounds. I can easily keep the speed limits and still get over 13 mpg.
4.88s aren't for 32-33" tires.
Hell, I tow 5,000 pounds, maybe it's more with the parts tossed in, so for me, 3,000-4,000 would be like nothing at all behind me. That's a small load, hardly a load as far as weight goes. I'm at least 1500 pounds heavier back there and I do fine.
Naw, it's for off-roading, taller tires, lifts. Not needed for towing.

Different strokes for different folks. Taller heavier tires has the same effect on performance as loading up weight and towing, so if it's good for one it's good for the other.

The jt can run 37s on stock gears, doesn't mean it isn't better on 4.88s or 5.13s, same thing with towing. It can tow on 3.73 or 4.10s, but it will tow better on deeper gears.

 

[bleda2002]

You know, you've changed my mind; I agree with what you're saying. The 20" diameter tires are so expensive you're within spitting distance of gears, and regearing is a tremendously better bang for the buck to improve perceived peppiness.

That's really where I'm coming from, if he is going to spend that much on a mod to increase performance than make sure it's the one to give the most bang for the buck.

 

[Jaxmax]

But, he still would be spinning 33” tall tires that weight 110 a tire and still at 12.5 inches wide, compared to the 10.8” wide tire the exact same height and circumference,so the gear swap would be to make up for the 39 pounds of weight and the extra 1.7 inches of tire width?
I am sort of why not drop the width and 39 pounds he will see that. BUT, what load range is the replacement tire F would be a pretty stiff tire, next question is what size rims do you have the skinny tire is rated at 7.5 - 9.5 rim while the tires you have now are rated at 8.5 - 11 inch rims, the skinny tires might not even fit. So the last option after gearing and and new 20” tires is sell both sets of tires you have and get 17” , 18” or 20” rims that fit the tire you want! NEXT… 27 pounds is really light for a 33” inch tire, compared to a Falken Wildpeak 255/17 AT tire that weighs 52 pound at a true 33” tire, also load range F.
I am planning on going skinner and lighter on my Mojave, for better handling, still good towing,better on beach and light weight should have me jumping even higher! Good luck, you should be totally confused by now…..Jack

 

[redriderjf87]

If you're used to old V8's and are trying to keep the engine RPM's below 3,000, yeah, it's a dog, but if you'll give it the throttle the Pentastar craves, the 3.73 gears are plenty snappy.



You know, you've changed my mind; I agree with what you're saying. The 20" diameter tires are so expensive you're within spitting distance of gears, and regearing is a tremendously better bang for the buck to improve perceived peppiness.

In my personal real world experience (manual trans), 3.73 makes 6th gear too tall for the available torque/power of the 3.6L, such that in any headwind or uphill condition (or any other situation that requires changing speed), you have to step into it or downshift, and lose any mpg advantage that you would've gained from running lower rpms. This is with the stock Willy's 32 inch MT's and comparing mpg averages over a few tanks of mostly highway driving.

Can't comment on automatics though.

 

[CAPTnKITTY]

Ya gotta decide - perceived off-the-line pep, or mpg.
A device like a pedal commander or whatever it's called with change the perception of pep off the line. It makes the throttle more responsive.
So are you after mpg, or reaction time drag strip leaving the line performance?
I tow 5,000 pounds worth of car hauler and car around the country from time to time. No lack of towing ability or pep in mine. I can get 13.9 mpg towing that load on the hills of I80 in eastern Iowa. My Silverado did 12 on a good day on the same highway, hauling my cars.

Haha no. Guess I could have worded it a little better. By no means is this thing for speed. I meant just going to a lighter tire make it feel more stock pep. After I put these heavy load F rated tires on it feels a little sluggish compared to the stock. I’m more concerned about the mpgs when it gets back to boating season and towing my boat back and forth to the lake. Lol

 

[CAPTnKITTY]

But, he still would be spinning 33” tall tires that weight 110 a tire and still at 12.5 inches wide, compared to the 10.8” wide tire the exact same height and circumference,so the gear swap would be to make up for the 39 pounds of weight and the extra 1.7 inches of tire width?
I am sort of why not drop the width and 39 pounds he will see that. BUT, what load range is the replacement tire F would be a pretty stiff tire, next question is what size rims do you have the skinny tire is rated at 7.5 - 9.5 rim while the tires you have now are rated at 8.5 - 11 inch rims, the skinny tires might not even fit. So the last option after gearing and and new 20” tires is sell both sets of tires you have and get 17” , 18” or 20” rims that fit the tire you want! NEXT… 27 pounds is really light for a 33” inch tire, compared to a Falken Wildpeak 255/17 AT tire that weighs 52 pound at a true 33” tire, also load range F.
I am planning on going skinner and lighter on my Mojave, for better handling, still good towing,better on beach and light weight should have me jumping even higher! Good luck, you should be totally confused by now…..Jack

My rims are 20x9 I believe so the newer tires will still fit. I’m also looking to get away from the load F rating. No need for 12 ply tires on this little truck. Lol I was looking at the wrangler tires at 275/60/20.

 

[Wheelin98TJ]

Haha no. Guess I could have worded it a little better. By no means is this thing for speed. I meant just going to a lighter tire make it feel more stock pep. After I put these heavy load F rated tires on it feels a little sluggish compared to the stock. I’m more concerned about the mpgs when it gets back to boating season and towing my boat back and forth to the lake. Lol

What are you getting for MPG with your current setup towing the pontoon?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Haha no. Guess I could have worded it a little better. By no means is this thing for speed. I meant just going to a lighter tire make it feel more stock pep. After I put these heavy load F rated tires on it feels a little sluggish compared to the stock. I’m more concerned about the mpgs when it gets back to boating season and towing my boat back and forth to the lake. Lol

I got 13.9 average one trip hauling my trailer with car. Plenty of pep for me, I could keep up my speed on I80 without trouble.
Next trip was bad weather, wind, rain and so on, got a bit less but still good for driving those hills at 65 mph with the load behind me. And when that little car is loaded, it stands proud of the truck since it's a 4x4 car so hope folks don't get to thinking there was no frontage back there. I had to clean as many bugs off the front at my destination as if I had driven the darned thing there.
I've never used over C on my trucks save for the F250 I had years ago - it could have pulled a trailer with several Gladiators loaded up. I hauled over 2,000 pounds of antique engine back from Topeka IN the back of that truck. Man, settled on those overload springs my wife and her aunt both commented it rode like a Caddy.

 

[Jeeperjamie]

I run 37's on mine and it still does great in the HWY. I can still hit 8th gear with no problems but I keep mine under 75mph, and I average just around 17.2 to 17.5 around town and get about 18 to 18.5 on trips. Mines a Max tow which I was under the impression had the best Gear/MPG combo from the factory. I got 4.10 gears. If your running stock size tires I see no reason you should need a regear, even with 3.73 gears. If your staying 33's or smaller 3.73 isn't gonna be bad on the HWY or around town.
I've also towed about 5,000lbs of rock/trailor weight combo about 45 minutes and it stayed around 14.5mpg and got up to speed pretty good. I stayed around 55mph also.

Mine on 37 12.5 17's

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I've also towed about 5,000lbs of rock/trailor weight combo about 45 minutes and it stayed around 14.5mpg and got up to speed pretty good. I stayed around 55mph also.

Speed REALLY matters when towing as you've just increased not only the load the engine is pulling in weight, but the DRAG through the air.

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